Entertainment

8 Ways to Discover Your New Favorite Band Online

The way singers' voices get from their mouths to your ears becomes easier than ever because of the music-distribution services sprouting up online. Gone are the days when consumers were required to listen to the radio or purchase physical copies of songs or albums — on vinyl, cassette tape or CD — in order to hear or discover new music.

Popular artists and independent musicians alike are constantly adjusting distribution methods based on how fans are consuming music digitally. Even the Recording Industry Association of America took notice, updating its 55-year-old barometer for measuring commercial success to include audio and video streams as well as digital sales of albums and singles. And because more people access music in digital formats, Billboard recently modernized its charts to take into account YouTube views as well as Nielsen SoundScan's digital-download sales numbers and streaming data.

"There is absolutely no reason why any artist needs a label anymore," Peter Hollens, singer-songwriter of primarily a cappella music, told Mashable. "No longer do we need a label or some old rich man in a suit to tell us that our music is good."

Here's a quick rundown of online services where you can find quality indie music.

1. Loudr

Loudr allows independent musicians to license and distribute covers songs. Covering other artists' music in unique ways has been a proven, effective method of attracting a fanbase particularly on YouTube. This service ensures musicians legally have rights to sell their music and provides real-time sales stats so they can track performance of each song.

"Rather than being a music store, Loudr allows my fans to pay what they want to support my music and get lossless quality audio — meaning the exact sound I have in my studio while I finish my mastered version, not a crappy .mp3 version you get from most sites," Hollens explained. "It's also cool that my fans know that they're supporting me and my music directly; I've been shocked by how generous they are, and it literally keeps me going."

Consumers can watch artists' YouTube videos and can bundle different albums and singles together before purchasing.

"[Loudr is] where I tell my mom to purchase my music," Hollens added.

2. Bandcamp

Another direct artist-to-fan-distribution service is Bandcamp, which lets musicians sell music and merchandise. Fans can create a profile where their Bandcamp music purchases and notes will live. The site also allows fans to follow artists so they can alerted whenever new music from them arrives and build a wishlist of future purchases.

Singer Steve Grand (above), who earlier this month released a brave music video that tells "the universal story of longing to be loved" from the perspective of of a gay male, uses the platform to sell the song, explain its background and display its lyrics.

3-5. iTunes, Google Play and Amazon

Artists know it's important to offer their work where the majority of consumers buy music. Established players in the music industry, particularly iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.

Google Play and Amazon have "indie music" sections, while iTunes has a "New Artists" tab.

6-7. Spotify and Rdio

Streaming-music services such as Spotify and Rdio have solid music-discovery engines (see Spotify's in the video, below). Both have the largest streaming-music libraries with 20 million licensed songs, and artists are turning to them as another distribution outlet.

8. YouTube

No online platform has been more beneficial to independent music artists than YouTube — at least for gaining recognition quickly. Remember how videos from independent musicians Walk Off The Earth ("Somebody That I Used To Know" cover) and top-charting Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ("Thrift Shop") helped catapult them into fame?

Among the 200-plus music channels on YouTube are ones from independent musicians like Boyce Avenue, a trio of brothers who essentially blazed the way for cover songs and original indie music on YouTube. Boyce Avenue is the 17th most-followed music channel and the top channel for musicians not signed to a major record label.

What's Hot

Mashable
is a leading global media company that informs, inspires and entertains the digital generation. Mashable is redefining storytelling by documenting and shaping the digital revolution in a new voice, new formats and cutting-edge technologies to a uniquely dedicated audience of 42 million monthly unique visitors and 24 million social followers.